Networks, such as the Internet, have become an increasingly important part of our everyday lives. Millions of people now access the Internet on a daily basis to shop for goods and services, obtain information of interest (e.g., movie listings, news, etc.), and communicate with friends, family, and co-workers (e.g., via e-mail or instant messaging).
Currently, when a person wishes to purchase a product or simply find information on the Internet, the person enters into his/her web browser a Uniform Resource Locator (URL) pertaining to a web site of interest in order to access that particular web site. The person then determines whether the product or information of interest is available at that particular web site.
When the person does not know where to go to find, for example, a desired product, the person may “search” for web sites that sell the product using a search engine. For example, suppose a person wishes to purchase a laser printer via the Internet. The person may access a web site that includes a conventional search engine. The person may enter one or more terms relating to the product, such as “laser printer,” into the search engine to attempt to locate web sites that sell that product. Searching for products or information of interest in this manner has become very popular.
Of all the queries received by a search engine, only a fraction of the queries are commercial queries, which are defined as queries where the user wants to conduct a transaction online (e.g., “Buy Diamond Jewelry”). Though small in terms of percentage, these commercial queries have the potential to account for a large fraction of the total revenue for the search engine, since many search engines depend on advertising for revenue. Therefore, it is desirable to determine a way to identify commercial queries, so that these queries can be better monetized.
Similarly, a small percentage of advertisements presented to users generate a large percentage of the revenue for the advertising server. Identifying these “commercial” advertisements allows for better placement and presentation of these advertisements, so that they can be even more successful. Also, there typically is limited space available to display advertisements for a given query. As such, it is desirable to display advertisements that are most likely to maximize revenue, while still preserving the user experience.
Therefore, there exists a need for systems and methods for improving the provisioning of advertisements.